Hosiery



Nov. 24, 1959 w. GUTER 2,913,891 w HOSIERY Filed NOV. 9, 1954 JL 15 f 78IN VEA/TUR WERNER GllTER- United States Patent() HoslERY Werner Gter,Menden, Germany, assigner to Opal Strumpfwerke G.m.b.H. Margaritoff &Schaffer, Hamburg, Germany, a corporation of Germany ApplicationNovember 9, 1954, Serial No. 467 ,852

Claims priority, application German November 11, 1953 s Claims. (cl.s6-17s) 'Ihe present invention relates to an improvement in stockingsand particularly to ladies hosiery, and more particularly to the upperdouble portion thereof commonly referred to as the welt.

Heretofore it has been common to employ knitting machines in themanufacture of ladies hosiery which automatically transfer', the firstrow or course of loops in the welt of a stocking welt blank to the jointbetween the welt and the main portion of the stocking as soon as thewelt portion has been knitted, it being understood that the doubled hoseportion, or welt, will be thus formed by said transfer of the upperportion to the lower portion.

My invention finds particular utility in fiat knit stock ings and thesestockings usually have the leg portion formed of a single layer of knit`fabric and then at the top of the leg there is a portion, usually termeda welt, which is formed of two layers of knit fabric. Certain details ofconstruction have given rise to difliculties which render the finishedstocking subject to accidental damage by the user thereof. Herein isdiscussed one difiiculty in particular.

The first 'course of loops of. the blank is produced in the usual way.However, as soon as the machine turns this row to the above cited joint,the machine drops each second loop of the first course in order toprovide more eiiicient means for the rake or comb of the machine toperform its function of turning the portion of the welt.

For a more complete understanding of the invention, reference should bemade to the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 shows a plan View of a complete ladies stocking.

Figure 2 illustrates the upper portion of a stocking blank, morecommonly referred to as the welt.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatical view representing the rst and the last rowsor courses of loops of the welt, the

2,913,891 `Patented Nov. 24, 1959 ICC is designated herein by thereference figure 18, and the last course by the figure 19, figure 12being the leg or main portion of the hose. I

During the operation wherein the portion 16 is transferred by machine sothat course 18 coincides with course 19, the rake or comb of theknitting machine is disposed so that every other loop of the firstcourse 18 is picked up by the rake and each second loop dropped.However, a peculiar diiculty has arisen in respect to this method offolding the welt. Due to the quality of inelasticity of syntheticmaterials and the like which are used in the manufacture of ladieshosiery, each second loop, indicated by 20 in Figure 3, does notstretch, but, since the yarn or thread is present in excess, the loop 20forms enlarged loops of unfavorable appearance which extend outwardlyfrom the fabric, and which are caught in the users finger nails orrings, or the like. This condition results in runs being formed in thestocking, thus ruining the fabric. Said enlarged loops form a. thickroll line at the joint between the welt 11 and the leg portion 12 of thestocking.

For the purpose of overcoming these difficulties, the first course orcourses 18 of the welt 11 are made with a curled or crepe yarn. As isknown to those familiar with the art, crepe yarn has a high elasticity.

With the first courses so made, when the turning rake picks up eachalternate loop, dropping each second loop and placing the first course18 upon the last course 19 of the welt 11, each second loop will formthe horizontal cross-passes as illustrated in Figure 4. 'Ihis is due tothe high elasticity of the crepe yarn.

The obvious result is that the cross-passes are immediately closed uponthe placing by the machine of the first course 18 upon the last course19. Thus the joint between the Welt 11 and the leg portion 12 of thestocking is perfectly smooth and even, the previously open and looseloops not being present to provide means for accidental damage to occurto the stocking. The new result not only increases the durability of thestocking, but facilitates the manufacture of the same as the process maybe employed by any machine using an automatic v two-needle turning rakeor the like.

` be explained.

Figure 4 illustrates the rst course of loops showing the cross-pass, orfloat eect, achieved by the use of.

curled crepe yarn, the purpose for which will be explained in detail.

Referring to Figure 1, the reference figure 11 is used to generallydenote the welt portion of a ladies stocking blank 10. Figure 2 showsthe welt 11 as a single layer or thickness of fabric which, whenfinished, will be folded along line 17 so that the upper portion 16 willcoincide with the lower portion 19, forming the double welt. Furtherfinishing will result from folding the blank along line 13 so that theedge 14 and edge 15 may be stitched together, thus forming the back seamof the stocking.

The first. or upper, course of row or loops of the weltv From the aboveit is believed that those skilled in the art will readily understand theinvention and further discussion thereof is not deemed necessary. Whilel have shown selected embodiments of the invention, it is to beunderstood that detailed changes may be made without departing from thescope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A flat-knit stocking having a double-walled welt constituted by afirst welt portion bounded by an edge and a fold line, and a second weltportion of the same width as the first welt portion, the first weltportion being folded over said fold line to be in registry with thesecond welt portion with said edge joined to the last course of saidsecond welt portion inwardly spaced from said fold line, at least thefirst course of loops and no more than a few subsequent courses of loopsof said edge of said first welt portion consisting of a curled crepesynthetic thermoplastic polymeric stretch yarn, while all the remainingcourses of the first and second welt portions consist of a relativelyinelastic synthetic thermoplastic polymeric yarn.

-2. The flat-knit stocking of claim l, wherein at least the first twocourses of loops of the rst welt portion edge consist of curled crepesynthetic yarn.

3. The flat-knit stocking of claim 1, wherein the curled crepe yarn is anylon-type yarn.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSSmetana Mar. 3, 1942 Billion Aug. 14, 1951

